And therein lies part of the problem. No one WANTS to be a sheep. Being called a sheep is pejorative. Even people who do not really care about being strong, or being the strongest, will still rebel at the idea of being weak. Conversely, wolves are "cool." And the idea of being a protector "sheepdog" is heroic. Therefor NO ONE is ever going to define themselves as a sheep. And the whole thing pretty much falls apart.

By definition, I am a sheepdog since I sometimes use violence (training in a combat sport and being in LE). But I really only do that because I am a self-hating sheep. As a quiet, nerdy, unathletic kid I trained in TKD because I didn't want to be a sheep. When older, I switched to combat sports from my "useless" light contact TKD for the same reason. And is it any wonder I am in LE now?

All this to say, I agree the sheep, wolf, sheepdog thing is far too simplistic and inaccurate to describe people. Plus I really think it's a form of LARPing as well. Whoever brought up Phil Elmore is right about that.

And therein lies part of the problem. No one WANTS to be a sheep. Being called a sheep is pejorative. Even people who do not really care about being strong, or being the strongest, will still rebel at the idea of being weak. Conversely, wolves are "cool." And the idea of being a protector "sheepdog" is heroic. Therefor NO ONE is ever going to define themselves as a sheep. And the whole thing pretty much falls apart.

By definition, I am a sheepdog since I sometimes use violence (training in a combat sport and being in LE). But I really only do that because I am a self-hating sheep. As a quiet, nerdy, unathletic kid I trained in TKD because I didn't want to be a sheep. When older, I switched to combat sports from my "useless" light contact TKD for the same reason. And is it any wonder I am in LE now?

No one wants to be a sheep, true, but people who are sheep wouldn't even think about the distinction, they do not know the distinction because it doesn't occur to them. There are two types of people, good and bad, therefore violence equals bad. Generally, they do not think about dangerous situations further than hoping it never happens to them. You are not a self- hating sheep, the very fact that you use violence for whatever reason takes you out of the sheep category.

Sheepdogs are different because they are aware there is a third option. A sheepdog not only thinks further on the situation, but wishes they were there, with their knowledge of violence. Sheep are confused by this, to the point they wonder if sheepdogs are unbalanced. "Good people like me abhor violence, how can anyone like violence if they are good people?"

My mistaken belief that knowledge of violence meant I was destined for the bad was borne of this idea that there is only good and bad people and that bad people are violent. I began hanging around with "wolves". I never felt part of the "pack", I could never take part in "wolf" predatory behaviour, something in me said it was wrong and I voiced my opinion. You can't run with a pack and oppose them at the same time, they turn on you, viciously.

I can't be a LEO, but that doesn't mean I can't protect sheep. I have to be more careful about it, though, there can be no ambiguity. I cannot tackle someone to the ground in the mall because he is running and someone is yelling at them to stop. I cannot punch a drunk for verbal sexual harrassment of women at a bar. But I can assist a man being beaten on the ground by dragging, disarming or disabling his attackers. I can assist a woman being raped by choking the rapist out.

And it sucks, because I know people who are sheep who do not think like me and would consider it evil, but I can't help but think about the problems a thief would face, were I to find him in my house.

I actually like the sheep, sheepdog, wolf analogy for all its simplicity.

You have highlighted the bare intricities of the three animal human behaviour analagy. Like so many metaphors this is one that can be broken down and assesed, but at the same time can also be overstated and misinterperted.

I think its important to realise that although earths population as a whole is a vast abundance of colour, creed, views, physicality, moral complexities and differing perceptions we can be divided into three seperate anomalies. Good, bad and indifferent.

Although some people may posses some form of psychological overlap of all three traits, there will generaly be a dominant mindset present that serves to guide a person through their decision making and thought process. This can also be related to a persons perception of environments and simply how one may handle various situations that may cross their individual path.

I still can't get past the fact that the sheep-sheepdog-wolf analogy was created by the supposed sheepdogs and wannabe wolves. The whole thing comes across to me as a way for them to imply they are oh so much better and cooler than all those "sheep" out there. Besides, I think the people that are truly sheep (like the people battlefields is talking about) are actually pretty rare.

I am from the school of thought that the sheep are numerous, while sheepdogs are rare. However, sheepdogs tend to communicate and understand other sheepdogs, thus they tend to know and hang around other sheepdogs, much like wolves with other wolves. This appears to the individual sheepdog to be that a disproportionate amount of people are sheepdogs. We congregate with like minded people, the sheep stick with their herd.